Irrigation channel weed seed screen



NOV. 1, 1966 FI KINNE 3,282,430

IRRIGATION CHANNEL WEED SEED SCREEN Filed Aug. 16, 1963 FIG-3 Felix L.Knne 1NVENT0R.

United States Patent() 3,282,430 IRRIGATION CHANNEL WEED SEED SCREENFelix L. Kinue, Box 1197, Quincy, Wash. Filed Aug. 16, 1963, Ser. No.302,526 7 Claims. (Cl. 21o-162) My present invention relates broadly tothe art of irrigation of the type where irrigation water fiows insystems and more particularly to a weed screen for removing weed seedsand the like from flowing water in systems to preclude undesirablescattering of noxious weed seeds over a crop area.

In areas of our country, as for example the Columbia Basin area, whereirrigation is accomplished by conducting water through systems havingchannels and rills from larger canals, such debris gets into theirrigation water by the normal dropping of seeds by weeds growing alongthe canals and systems, and by the wind blowing seeds and other debrisinto lthe systems. In many instances the water received from the canalis transported in channels and/or in underground pipes where itsdischarge is controlled by means of conventional plumbing or irrigatingxtures including valves yand other fittings.

While the unwanted propagation of noxious weeds is of primary concern itwill be appreciated that other debris will cause plugging of the fiowcontrol valves thus varying their discharge and resulting in undesirablevariations in the quantity of water applied to various irrigated areas.

Heretofore, planar sieves or screens have been employed to rid theirrigating water of these weed seeds and debris but in the main havebeen ineffective because of the requirement for continued attention byan operator; the lack of which results ultimately in a complete failureof the screening process.

My present invention provides means for screening l weed seeds and thelike from water flowing in an irrigation system, which means requiresvery little attention and may be conceived as being automaticallyadaptable to the changing flow conditions that arise throughout a daywhile irrigating, so that attention by an operator is required onlyoccasionally depending upon the quantity of weeds, seeds and debris in4the irrigating water.

It is an object of the present invention to provide means for screeningweed seeds and the like from water flowing in an irrigation system whichmeans has a large capacity for collection of weed seeds and debris, sothat it requires very little attention.

It is another object of the present invention to provide means forscreening weed seeds and -the like from water flowing in an irrigationsystem which means includes a sack having a body of sieving meshmaterial through which all of the flowing water passes.

Yet another object ofthe present invention lies in the provision in anirrigation system of a sack for screening weed seeds and the like fromthe water fiowing in the system and through the sack wherein the sack issupported upon a reticulate surface so that water may flow through thesieving mesh of the sack without obstruction by any surface exterior ofthe sack.

In the accompanying drawings I have shown a preferred form of thepresent invention but it is to be understood that the drawings areexemplifying only and are 1 not intended to limit the invention to thesestructures disclosed but I desire to secure to myself the invention inits broadest possible concept limited only by .the scope of the appendedclaims.

In the drawings like numerals are employed to designate like partsthroughout the several views and;

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary perspective View of one type Iof irrigationsystem;

FIGURE 2 is a longitudinal section taken on a vertical plane of thesystem of FIGURE l;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view of the mouth of ascreening sack and lhaving portions broken away for convenience ofillustration; and

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged fragmentary horizontal section showing amodified screening sack flange.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing I have shown anirrigation ditch of conventional construction which is indicated in itsentirety by the numeral 10. Customarily irrigation systems having achannel include in their channels one or more weirs 11 having adjustableow control boards or blades (not s'hown) by means of which the quantityof irrigating water is selectively controlled.

A flow direction means is indicated by the numeral 13 and constitutes awall defining a rectangular opening 14 which, is open along its upperedge. The opening 14 has a fiange-receiving groove 15 in the other threeedges the purpose of which will be subsequently seen.

In the present illustration the measurement of the rectangular opening14 is approximately 28 x 10". While this dimension is not critical it isconvenient to use to accomodate the standard size of materialconstituting the sieving mesh material.

A rectangular frame 16 is fabricated from angle material 17 -as seen inFIGURE 3 or channel material 18 as seen in FIGURE 4 and constitutes afiange which mates with the groove 15 of wall 13 to anchor the sack 19of the weed screen to the wall 13. Thus all of the water flowing throughthe opening 14 will pass into the sack and al1 of the foreign materialsuch as weed seeds and the like carried by the water will be sieved fromthe water that passes through the sieving mesh material.

The material available for forming the sack 19 is preferably a flexiblematerial which is sub-stantially chemical -inert with respect toirrigating Water and air. Plastic fabrics having a mesh of from 30 to 40are admirably adapted for this use. Preferably the size of the openingsin the material will approximate .0164 inches, but obviously this mayvary as the size of the weed seeds and debris peculiar .t-o a specificarea dictate the size of openings required in the fabric sieving meshmaterial. This material is available on the open market in varioussizes. A standard width of 36 inches is conveniently employed by foldingthe material lengthwise upon itself and by mean-s of a standard sewingmachine stitching approximately 1/2 inch from its edges to form a sackhaving an open mouth 20. The fabric defining the mouth is passed throughthe frame 16 and secured thereto in one of a number of acceptablemanners. As shown in FIG- URE 3 the fabric is secured by a water proofadhesive at 21. As shown in FIGURE 4 the fabric is attached to the frame16 by being frictionaily retained within the channel member 18 by aresilient ring 22. To provide ample area fior flow of water the sack maybe elongated to any measurement necessary and still maintainsufficiently small openings in the mesh to insure sieving or strainingout all weed seeds and the like without materially restricting fiow ofthe irrigation water.

With conventional planar weed screens even though they may be moved fromthe perpendicular to an angular position nearing the horizontal thesieving function is less efficient than desirable. Weed seeds and debriscarried by the water may be classified in three general classifications:Those that float, those that are of substantially the same specificgravity as the Water, and those that are heavier than water. The heavierlthan water seeds and the like are caused by frictional engagement ofmoving water to move along the bottom of the ditch and deposit along thebottom of the screens. In a vertically disposed planar screen the otherdebris will progressively plug the openings in the entire screen surfacethrough which the water is ilowing thus causing the elevation of thewater to rise and if not properly maintained by periodically removingthe accumulation upon the screen the level of the water ultimately owsover the `screen and the screening process is destroyed and furthermoreit washes debris accumulation back into the system. In .screens wherethe planar screen is disposed at an angle close to horizontal thatportion of water that fails to pass through the screen but over thescreen carries the oating debris and some of the water borne seeds overthe screen instead o-f passing through. With the present invention thearea of the screening material is increased to such a degree that noplugging is experienced because the watel can ow out of the sack throughall of its walls wherever necessary without destroying its sieving orwater screening function,

To facilitate this I provide a reticulate support 22 and thus the sackis supported without any restriction to ilow externally of the sack.This may take the form of the table shown at 23 having depending legswhich support the reticulate portion 22 above the lower or downstreambottom surface 24 of the two level channel 10. The functional equivalentmay be obtained by supporting the reticulate support 22 in the sidewalls of the system and having the grade of the channel sucient toprovide water llow clearance out the bottom wall of the sacket 19.

The reticulate support may be fabricated from expanded metal or beotherwise provided, it being understood that `any equivalent supportadapted to permit free egress of the water from the bottom wall of thesack will sulice.

When the debris collects on the bottom wall of the sack, a stiff bristlebrush is used to dislodge it and agitate .the water whereupon the debrisis carried to the downstream end of the `sack by the flow of water. Thismaterially increases the service life between the times when the sackmust be emptied.

Having thus described by present invention I desire to secure byLet-ters Patent of the United States the following:

l. An irrigation system having means for screening weed seeds and thelike from water flowing in said system, comprising: an irrigationchannel,

means in said channel including an aperture for directing the full flowof water in said channel through said aperture;

a sack of sieving mesh material having an open mouth;

means communicating said mouth and said aperture to effect said flow ofwater into said sack, whereby to catch said weed seeds and the like assaid water flows through said sack.

2. An irrrigation system having means for screening weed seeds and thelike from water flowing in said system, comprising: an irrigationchannel,

means in said channel including an aperture for directing the ful-l flowof water in said channel through said aperture;

a reticulate support spaced above the bottom of said channel downstreamand adjacent `to said aperture;

a sack of sieving mesh material having an open mouth conununicating withsaid aperture; and

said sack being supported upon said support.

3. An irrigation system having means lfor screening 4 weed seeds and thelike from water llowing in said system, comprising: an irrigationchannel,

means including an aperture for directing the full ow of water in saidchannel through said aperture;

a sack of sieving material having an open mouth communicating with saidaperture; and

means in said channel imparting substantially no resistance to ilow ofwater from said sack supporting said sack spaced from the channel.

4. An irrigation syste-m having means for screening weed seeds and thelike from water llowing in said system, comprising: an irrigationchannel,

a sack of sieving material communicating with said channel to receiveand pass through the Imaterial thereof the full llow of water in saidchannel;

said sieving material being a mesh selected from between 30 and 40 meshand substantially chemically inert with respect lto irrigating water.

5. An irrigation system having means for screening weed seeds and thelike from water flowing in the irrigation system, comprising anirrigation channel,

an elongated sack formed with a body of sieving material and means insaid channel to communicate said sack with said channel -to receive andpass therethrough the full flow of water in said channel; said channelbeing formed with a bottom wall which is at a lower elevationdownstream; and

means supporting the body of said sack in upwardly spaced relation tothe downstream bottom wall of said channel.

6. The invention dened in claim 5 and further characterized by saidlast-named means, comprising:

an expanded metal surface fixed in said channel spaced upwardly of saiddownstream ybottom wall, whereby :to 'admit water flowing through all ofits body as required by the water-how quantity.

7. An irrigation system having means for screening weed seeds and thelike from water owing in said system, comprising: an irrigation channel,

a wall in said channel having a geometric opening therein for divertingwater flowing in said channel through said opening;

said wall having a groove dening said opening;

a sack of sieving material having an open mouth defined by a rigidflange coincident in shape and mating with said groove to releasablysecure said sack to said wall to receive into said sack all of the waterowing through said opening; and

said sack being supported for admitting of water flow through at leastpart of its sieving material.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,128,510 2/1915Quist 55-378 X 1,709,291 4/ 1929 Vidler 210-242 X FOREIGN PATENTS1,195,948 5/ 1959 France.

REUBEN FRIEDMAN, Primary Examiner.

D. RIESS, Assistant Examiner,

1. AN IRRIGATION SYSTEM HAVING MEANS FOR SCREENING WEEDS SEEDS AND THELIKE FROM WATER FLOWING IN SAID SYSTEM, COMPRISING: AN IRRIGATIONCHANNEL, MEANS IN SAID CHANNEL INCLUDING AN APERTURE FOR DIRECTING THEFULL FLOW OF WATER IN SAID CHANNEL THROUGH SAID APERTURE; A SACK OFSIEVING MESH MATERIAL HAVING AN OPEN MOUTH; MEANS COMMUNICATING SAIDMOUTH AND SAID APERTURE TO EFFECT SAID FLOW OF WATER INTO SAID SACK,WHEREBY TO CATCH SAID WEED SEEDS AND THE LIKE AS SAID WATER FLOWSTHROUGH SAID SACK.